


rue this kindness

by lacquer



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ancient Greek Religion & Lore Fusion, Complicated Relationships, M/M, One-sided violence, except without the fun parts, explaination/warnings in authors note, prometheus myth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-12 18:53:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19951153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lacquer/pseuds/lacquer
Summary: It’s eight o’clock, which means it’s time for Minghao to come and rip out his liver again. This, unfortunately, is not a metaphor.





	rue this kindness

**Author's Note:**

> This is absolutely the least valid thing I've ever written.  
> If you're not familiar with the Prometheus myth, I've changed a couple parts of it, but there's a good summary here: https://www.ancient.eu/Prometheus/
> 
> Inspired by this tweet: https://imgur.com/a/a748nyx
> 
> see bottom for content warnings!

It’s eight o’clock, which means it’s time for Minghao to come and rip out his liver again. This, unfortunately, is not a metaphor.

Jun likes to think he’s ready for it, but the truth is that every time hurts just as much as the first. Really, some things just couldn’t be prepared for. 

The rock he’s chained to is nice this time of year. It’s made of a dark brown granite flecked with darts of something that’s not quite mica, located smack in the middle of the ocean. His shackles are bolted into it, heavy iron holding him spread eagle (ha) on its surface. Right now the weather is almost tropical, sky translucent as a butterfly’s wing, clouds made wispy and golden by the setting sun.

It could be worse, Jun thinks. The rock is positioned north-south so he can watch the sunrise and the sunset, and he doesn’t get bedsores, no matter how long he’s kept in one place. He doesn’t have to eat, or drink, merely exist here, staring at the sky. 

Oh, and get his liver torn out once a day. That too. 

It’s the consequences of his actions he supposes. Stealing fire, violating the mandate of Olympus, humiliating Zeus in front of his contemporaries, etc etc. 

Sometimes he wonders if it was worth it, stealing that spark. Sure humans had fire now, but were any of them around to feel Zeus’s divine retribution? Were any of them getting their livers torn out? Jun thinks not. On those days, he reminds himself of the world before he walked into it: cold and miserable, humans dying by the score. Hungry, dark, and alone.

He couldn’t leave them like that. It was his responsibility, see. Jun helped make humans, he had to make sure they turned out all right. The consequences were what they were. He tries to look at the silver linings.

Here’s a big one: Minghao doesn’t eat his liver once he’s torn it out. Jun is pretty sure Zeus has ordered him to more than once (sick bastard that he is), but every time, Minghao ignores him. Despite being the Aetos Dios, Zeus’s own animal companion, Minghao has an independent streak a mile wide and a set of morals to match. 

Jun has heard of what he was before he became an eagle, a king so admired by his people that the gods themselves grew jealous. He can see it still, a regal bearing, the weight of his crown gone but never forgotten. 

It’s not even Minghao’s fault. Jun knows that. Minghao is simply the outlet that Zeus is expressing his anger through. It makes it hard to hate him, no matter how many times he takes out Jun’s internal organs. 

Jun knows too that defying the will of Zeus isn't something that anyone, least of all Minghao, does lightly. He knows what he's risking just by disobeying a simple order. It just doesn’t help much when Minghao has his liver in his claws, dripping red onto the granite between them. 

Sometimes Jun isn’t sure that the rising tide of emotion in his ribcage isn't hate, isn't sure whether it's love or anger beating down the door to his heart. Minghao is the only person Jun sees day after day, the only person who touches him, the only person who hurts him. The situation stands between them like the rock that Jun has been chained to, like Minghao’s hands, stained red with Jun’s blood, like the vicious line that Minghao’s talons carve into his torso.

Most of the time, Jun ignores it.

As always, Minghao lands on his rock when the sun is just touching the horizon. The light paints his feathers green and gold, the tips of them nearly translucent. 

Two hops forward and Minghao transforms, change fluid as breathing. One moment he’s a four foot tall eagle, the next he’s a man, slender as a crescent moon.

“Minghao!” Jun waves a hand from where he’s chained up, doing as much as he can with his limited range of movement. “Good to see you~” He chirps it, half for his own benefit, half for the person in front of him, kneeling down by his side. It’s good to be positive about this sort of thing.

Minghao grins despite himself, dimples popping out. “Good to see you, Jun. How’s your day been?”

“Oh, you know.” Jun says. “Been chained to a rock all day, same old same old. I think I’m making progress befriending the seagulls. How was yours?”

Minghao considers it for a second, moving so that he’s sitting cross legged by Jun’s side. “I was assigned to spy on some dryads today.”

“Oh?” Jun’s tone is light, teasing. “Did you?” 

A huff of air escapes Minghao’s throat. “No. I’m pretty sure they would have killed me if I got caught, and besides that, Chungha deserves respect. I told Zeus that I couldn’t find them and took the day off.”

Jun hums. “That’s nice.”

Minghao nods. “I brought you back some of the snacks I tried at the market in Athens. The dried dates are especially good this year.”

From his hip pouch, Minghao draws out a small paper package. The smell of sweet fruit hits the air, and Jun widens his eyes with interest. Minghao sees him and laughs. While Jun doesn’t need to eat, he does still enjoy food, and Minghao brings him things sometimes. Wine, taken from the decks of passing merchants. Bread, still a little bit warm. Once, memorably, an entire bag of lemons. 

It started as a way for Minghao to apologize and it still is, a little bit. The gesture is more than that by now, though. It’s Minghao’s way of saying  _ look here, I was thinking of you. _ The food is nice no matter the intent behind it, but Jun quite likes the thought that Minghao considers him more than just a duty.

“Feed me?” he asks.

Minghao laughs, bell-like. “Of course.” Sitting by Juns’s shoulder, he feeds the dates to him one at a time, fingertips brushing against his lips. They’re sweet, almost too much, but he eats them all. 

When they’re gone he licks his lips, chasing that hint of sugar, and smiles up at Minghao. “I guess it’s time now.”

Minghao nods, moving so that he’s kneeling by Jun’s torso. “It is.”

Jun sighs. “Go ahead, then.” He watches Minghao shifting his fingers into talons, readying a sharp edge. The fading sunlight limns them razor fine, deadly and beautiful.

“Don’t worry,” Minghao murmurs. “You’ll hardly feel a thing.”

They’ve done this enough times that Jun knows his words are a lie. He closes his eyes anyway; better blind to the feeling than to see it coming. 

He breathes in once, and then Minghao strikes. It’s smooth by now, years of practice making the movement near instinctual. Jun thinks he could map out the inside of his body by the momentum of Minghao’s talons alone, bright lines leading straight through him. 

Another moment, and it’s done. Jun opens his eyes to see Minghao, holding his liver in the palm of his hand. There’s a moment then, right before the pain hits, that seems like it will stretch on forever. Jun, chained to a rock in the middle of the ocean. Minghao, gilded by sunlight, cradling one of his vital organs.

Of course, that’s not how it goes. A moment later Jun’s body picks up on the fact that it’s in overwhelming pain, nerves firing with the abruptness of a bird dropped off the side of a cliff; a moment of confusion before flight. The place near his stomach that should be filled collapses inwards on itself, blood rushing out to meet the sea air. 

_ Like the tide,  _ Jun thinks, half dizzy with blood loss already. The pain creeps up his spine, a blooming vine strangling thought as well as movement.

By his side, Minghao sits down, taking one of Jun’s hands. Jun’s liver is abandoned over the side of the rock, given to the ocean. Something in him wants to protest the action, point out that it’s  _ Jun’s  _ liver that he just dropped to the sharks, but the shock is numbing his tongue already, making him slow and useless. He doesn’t say anything about it in the end, just holds onto Minghao’s hand more tightly, weathering out the pain.

Already, he can feel magic within him, stirring at what Minghao has done. By morning, he'll be whole and Minghao will be gone again, off to do Zeus’s bidding. The healing properties aren't enough to save him from passing out now, but he'll take what he can get. 

It takes a couple of minutes of clutching Minghao’s hand like a lifeline before Jun can clamp down on the pain. It’s a familiar acid eating through his torso. Pushing it back never gets easier, but practice has made it a well worn ache, nearly intimate in the way it tucks itself between his bones.

When Jun’s grip on his hands slackens, Minghao moves to get up. 

“I should go.” he says. “I’ve got to warn Chungha about Zeus’s intentions.”

“Please?” Jun asks. “I’ve got a good half hour until I pass out. Stay until then?” The question comes out of his mouth breathy, his lungs convulsing over the words.

Minghao pauses the briefest second and nods. Instead of standing up he lays all the way down, wiggling until he’s tucked in the crook of Jun’s arm. “Only until you pass out.”

Jun smiles. He thinks there might be blood in his teeth. “Tell me a story?” 

Against his side, Minghao makes a quiet noise, flavored with amusement. “For you. You know I visited Athens today, right? There was a new caravan of merchants there and...”

Above them, the stars are slowly coming out, shards of light blooming between the clouds. They blur and shift in Jun’s vision, becoming a sea of pinpricks, beating in time with his heart. Minghao’s voice grows tinny as Jun listens to it, the cadence familiar, comforting. The words collapse into themselves, leaving behind only the timbre of his story, washing back and forth like the movement of waves.

Eventually even that fades, everything drowned in an old familiar darkness.

When he wakes, Minghao is gone. That’s alright though. Jun knows he’ll be back.

**Author's Note:**

> Content warnings: Basically what's in the summary: Minghao has been ordered to take out Jun's liver every day, and despite that, they're kinda friends. Please tell me if you think there should be additional tags on this one, because I'm honestly not sure.
> 
> Be thankful I didn't title this "can't live(r) without it".  
> I'm on twitter/cc @lavenderim if you'd like to talk! Anyway, leave a comment, tell me what you thought?


End file.
